Forced Darkness
by Mogli the Witch
Summary: AU-story - Lucius Malfoy kidnapps Ginny right under the eyes of every student and teacher at Hogwarts, and Dumbledore does nothing to help her. And soon it becomes clear that even 'good' men have a past.
1. Claiming Teil I

Forced Darkness  
  
by  
  
Mogli the Witch  
  
Disclaimer:   
  
This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.  
  
This story is an AU, because I invent a lot of 'facts' about certain main characters.   
  
AN: I know that this story is not great, not very well written and that there are many mistakes. But please, only constructive criticism, ok? I cannot take flamers seriously.  
  
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Some students stood in the Entrance Hall when the known dark wizard stormed into it and went on to the Great Hall with firm steps. Their frightened gasps accompanied the imposant figure of the wizard most students only knew out of horror stories their parents told them about the Death Eaters.   
  
Only few had seen him in person when he collected his son, who was currently in his seventh year, at the end of the semester.   
  
A first year student had the bad luck to stand directly in front of the door to the Great Hall, and she was impatiently pushed away.   
  
It was Dinnertime and everyone was present. The normally deathening noise from over 700 students and their teachers disappeared in an instant when the First of Voldmorts men entered the room with billowing robes.  
  
Most of the students wore shocked and frightened expressions, with the sole exception of Draco Malfoy who remained calm and looked with proud arrogance at the intimidating wizard who happened to be his father.  
  
Many of the teachers and older students had reached for there wands, ready for fighting, in case this was some scheme made up by Voldemort and his followers.  
  
Lucius Malfoy ignored them and went on to the staff table were he greeted Dumbledore with a curt nod.  
  
The old headmaster smiled pleasantly at the man in front of him and asked: "Which circumstances do I have to thank for your surprise visit, Lord Lucius?" Dumbledores voice was polite but people who knew him couldn't help but realize that it held nothing of its usual cheerfulness or warmth.  
  
Malfoy sneered: "Headmaster, I trust you already know the reason for my 'surprise visit'. I am here to claim what is mine by law."  
  
Dumbledore never lost his expression of polite interest when he answered very slowly: "Indeed, I think that I know. But I would ask you to step back from your right."  
  
The answer came immediately and was accompanied by an amused smile that did not quite reach the eyes: "A Malfoy never does that, as you very well know, Dumbledore. I would ask you to call the girl now." The last part held a warning undertone, and the dark wizards voice was cold and insistent.  
  
Dumbledore sighed and then nodded sadly before calling: "Miss Weasley, please be so kind and come here!"  
  
On the Gryffindor table the youngest Weasley exchanged a questioning look with her brother and his friends, but they all seemed as surprised as she was.  
  
So she simply got up and awkwardly went to the staff table, where she stilled beside the man she had grown up to fear and to hate mostly beside Voldemort himself. She made sure of being as far away from Lucius Malfoys intimidating presence as possible.  
  
She felt his glare heavy on her and dared looking back at him hate- and fearful. His famous white blond hair was bend back in a ponytail and he was dressed all in black. For one moment their eyes met - warm brown eyes met cold, silvery-grey ones - until she broke the contact and turned to look at Albus Dumbledore: "Sir, you wanted to see me?" Her voice trembled slightly and she spoke in a very low voice, like always when she was afraid.  
  
The old headmaster looked at her with a sad expression she had never seen before on his face: "Miss Weasley, I think you know Lord Malfoy?"  
  
She nodded, an unexplicable feeling of dread began to built inside her stomach: "Yes, we... met." And an inner voice added 'And he almost got me killed with that damned diary of his master'.  
  
Dumbledore smiled soothingly and continued: "You know that you are one of the few pureblood witches without any Muggles in their bloodline?"  
  
She nodded again - it was nothing she was proud of, but she had read her family name once in a book told her that much.  
  
"Miss Weasley, have your parents told you, by chance, that there is a registry of pureblood witches?"  
  
She frowned and shook her head, confused - what was this all about?  
  
Dumbledore sighed again heavily and continued: "Miss Weasley... it may be a terrible shock to you - but - due to an ancient, but unfortunately still valid, wizarding law, a pureblood wizard can claim to marry you. In fact, an unmarried pureblood witch has the legal duty to marry any pureblood wizard who demands it."  
  
She heard him speaking as if from far away. Inside her, a small voice cried: "No!", over and over again - and so she barely heart Dumbledore saying: "Miss Weasley, Lord Lucius's wife died last month, and he is here to take you with him as his new wife." 


	2. Claiming Teil II

Disclaimer:   
  
This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.  
  
AN:  
  
Ginny is in her sixth year, she is approximately 16, 17 years old now.  
  
Includes mentions of killing and torture (nothing detailed!!!)  
  
Please don't be disappointed - in this chapter they still are in the Great Hall. But I promise to post the next one soon - I have already written a lot more. But please excuse if I don't update every day, because I'm in the middle of two weeks of exams (yesterday Englisch correspondence, today I had an translation exam, tomorrow Spanish correspondence and translation... and so on. I am also aware that I am in terrible need of a beta-reader. Until I have one, please excuse my mistakes.  
  
Answers to reviews:  
  
DarkChildNinaAnimeAngel - I love almost every pairing with Lucius or Severus - thank you for adding me to your list - I am sooo proud!!!  
  
belle - I'll write more!  
  
Niamh of Tir na N Og - the next chapter(s) will give a bit more information on this story (unfortunately in this chapter is not very much further information)- but I would not want to spoil the surprise. But I love Lucius pairings and I am really hooked to unconventional pairings like this - a bit difficult to write but I see it as a challenge. I think it is more L/G-centric.  
  
kelly - thank you very much! Hope you like the next chapter - I'll be writing more soon  
  
Tsering - thank you - here is the next chapter!  
  
SamiJo - I hope you'll stay interested. Thank you!  
  
faer - Yes, odd indeed :-) I really like 'difficult' pairings, that are not that common (but only if I think they are remotely realistic.  
  
keladria - I'm glad you like it! Of course I'll write more as long as I got such nice reviews.  
  
elmia - After a good start it is difficult to meet the expectations... I hope I'll manage it. Thank you for your praise!  
  
jj - Thank you And for Ginny's eyes - ooops (maybe she's wearing Muggle-contacts? ;-) ) But I'll change blue for brown, of course  
  
scholcomp25 - Glad you like it, thank you!  
  
julkat007 - Thank you, I am happy that you find it interesting  
  
---  
  
Ginny let out a startled scream and some of the teachers looked as shocked as she felt. Minerva McGonnagall looked at Lucius Malfoy with disbelieve and loathing in her eyes: "You cannot be honest, Lord Malfoy! Nobody follows this medieval law any more...!"  
  
With an arrogant glare, Malfoy replied: "Professor, it is a valid law and it ensures the purity of old bloodlines. I fully intend to act according this law - as you should expect from any wizard of honour."  
  
Dumbledore said, before McGonnagall could answer:" I'm afraid I have to agree with my deputy headmistress, Lord Lucius. This law hasn't been practiced for nearly hundred years because it is commonly thought of as a barbaric anachronism."  
  
Lucius Malfoys eyes narrowed: "I don't think you'd dare to deny me what is my right. After all, I think I might be a bit more ... in practice... in the matter of duelling."  
  
His calm voice never lost the slightly amused tone, but held a sharp edge that made Ginny shudder even more than before. This man was the man who had tried to kill her. This man was the one Harry saw in his visions. This man had killed and tortured mercilessly...  
  
Dumbledore, of course, remained calm: "Lord Lucius, I doubt that you should be so sure about *that*."  
  
The teachers and students who sat near enough to hear the verbal fight sat frozen, most of them holding a tight grip to their wands.  
  
Ginny Weasley backed away, her terrified glare on Malfoy, expecting him to attack the headmaster at any time.  
  
For a moment, the dark wizard stared at Dumbledore with fury glittering in his eyes. The headmaster held the look with a stoic expression, but his eyes were unrecogneicable to that of the friendly, kind old man Ginny knew him as. They were the eyes of a warrior, hard, determined and ... dangerous to everyone who dared to oppose him openly. Never had Ginny believed that the popular headmaster could look like this.  
  
Then, suddenly, Lucius Malfoy smiled, a cold smile that didn't reach his eyes: "You are a brave man, Headmaster. Very ... Gryffindor ... of you..." It came out as an insult.  
  
The tension eased, but didn't really disappear, when Dumbledore anwered calmly: "Courage has nothing to do with schoolhouses, even if it is one of the major characteristics of the members of the House of the Lion."  
  
Lord Lucius ignored him and looked at the trembling girl beside him: "Miss Virginia Anne Weasley?"   
  
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She had to fight the feeling that she would faint any moment, when he stepped nearer and bowed lightly: "Miss Weasley, I think you know my name - Lucius Damien, Lord of Malfoy. It's a pleasure to meet you again- after so long."  
  
She found herself unable to answer and only stared at him like a rabbit would at a snake.  
  
He looked at her as if measuring her appearance. Then he smiled his typical, arrogant smile that reminded her very much of his son Draco. What he saw seemed to have found his approval.   
  
She shuddered involuntarily when she saw his cold silver-grey eyes watching her as if she were something on display in a shop.  
  
He was handsome, in a very aristocrathic kind of way - the dangerous beauty of a predator searching for prey.  
  
Now he reached out one hand and she flinched when he took her hand in his and kissed it gently.  
  
Ginny struggled not to pull her hand out of the surprisingly warm one of the intimidating man. She had the sudden expression that he would bite her.  
  
Nobody had ever kissed her hand before, and the formal behaviour of this, although known as brutal and cruel, sophisticated wizard made her feel like a three-year-old.  
  
She blushed and smiled timidly when he released her hand. Suddenly she realized that she should at least greet him as well, despite the fact that her wish that he wasn't here - that she wasn't here.  
  
She managed a weak: "Nice to meet you..." which even she herself found almost inaudible - and it also didn't sound very believable, as it betrayed her fear.  
  
This brought the first real smile in Malfoys face.   
  
He turned around to Dumbledore and said: "It is always charming to see how unpicked roses begin to blossom within the right care..."   
  
The way he said that let Ginny shiver again. She felt like she was drowning. Never had she felt such fear - not even when Tom Riddles diary had almost killed her.   
  
With a quick look at her, the Death Eater continued: " Headmaster, I'll return my fiancé in two weeks from now, in order to let her finish her education properly. I'll not have an uneducated wife."  
  
And with this, he gripped Ginnys ellebow tightly and nodded curtly in direction of the staff table. In an almost unhumanly difficult afford to fight her own fear down, she managed to call: "Headmaster... please!"  
  
But Dumbledore shook his head, looking very sad and tired: "I'm afraid, Miss Weasley - Virginia - that you don't have the opportunity to choose. I'm very sorry."  
  
She felt her knees becoming weak and she stumbled against the tall wizard beside her. She would have fallen if not for his quick reaction with which he caught her.  
  
She didn't really see the faces of the students, staring at the unusual pair, she saw everything as if through fog. She thought she could hear Ron screaming: " Let go of her, you bastard!" but maybe she imagined it.  
  
In front of the Entrance Hall a carriage stood which Malfoy forced her to enter. Inside, he force-fed her something out of a tiny bottle that had a nasty green-brown colour and tasted horrible.   
  
And after a moment of panic in which she thought that he had finally succeeded in killing her, this time with poison, she felt herself becoming more and more relaxed, until it was too difficult for her to open her eyes.   
  
A relaxing potion - the realization that he had given her something to relax was the last thing she thought before falling asleep, despite her determination to stay awake.  
  
***  
  
Back in the Great Hall, a turmoil had broken out. Harry had managed to hold Ron back until Malfoy had lef, then Ron had punched him hard into the stomach and started running after his baby-sister and her kidnapper.  
  
But a firm grip on his shoulder held him back, as well as the stern voice of the Headmaster: "Mr. Weasley, I want you to stay calm until I had an opportunity to speak with you. I've already sent an owl to your parents. Please don't ask me now, I think it is better you let this explain to you by your father."  
  
Neither Ron, nor Harry or Hermione, had seen Dumbledore that worried before. The Headmaster looked almost shocked.  
  
And if Ron had been frightened before, he was now frightened to death. "How could you allow Malfoy to take my sister with him?" he asked in a croaky voice that he barely recogneized as his own.  
  
The old Headmaster sighed heavily and replied: "You will learn as soon as your parents arrive. I'll inform you as soon as they are here." And with a reassuring squeeze of Rons shoulder he left .  
  
It looked suspiciously like a flight. 


	3. Revelations

DISCLAIMER:   
  
This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.  
  
AN: Hi! I am happy you all like it. And here it is - the next chapter. I'm afraid that it will deal more with Dumbledore and the Weasley family than with Lucius&Ginny. But it has to be, because it is a main point in my plotline so far. It may get a bit confusing, but I hope that you'll help me with your reviews to improve what I have written so far. I really appreciate constructive criticism!   
  
I hope you are not angry that I have decided that Hermione will not take a real part of this story. In this, she is a classmate of Ron and Harry, but not a close friend to them or Ginny. Sorry, if that disturbs you.  
  
And - this is an AU, that means, I might change timelines and not be correct with dates (for example the date of Dumbledores defeat of Grindelwald)  
  
Mentioning of rape, torture and killing. Sometimes very dark   
  
Don't wonder why I write that much about Ron's father... It's necessary, trust me!   
  
---  
  
Chapter 3: Relevations  
  
Two hours later:  
  
Ron stood nervously in front of the entry of Dumbledores office. The headmaster had sent him notice that his parents would arrive anytime. Harry had tried to sooth his friend, but he himself was absolutely terrified about what they just had witnessed and what might now be happening to the girl he had come to consider his little sister. He couldn't help but think of his second year when Lucius Malfoy had dropped Tom Riddles bewitched diary in the cauldron with Ginnys books. And he also remembered what she had looked like, pale, dying, at the verge of death.  
  
The boy-who-lived hated Lucius Malfoy almost with the same passion as he hated Voldemort himself and the man who had betrayed his parents and destroyed his family - Wormtail.  
  
Harry couldn't help but wonder about the fact that Dumbledore had let Lucius Malfoy, commonly known as someone who hated the Weasleys, Ginny taken with him.   
  
Ron had asked his best friend to accompany him, but Harry knew that he would have insisted on it even if Ron hadn't asked him to.   
  
He really loved Ginny as if she were his own little sister - a fact that had caused problems in the past, because of her crush on him. She had asked him for a date and he had tried to explain, as gentle as possible, that he would feel like screwing a sibling if he dated her.  
  
She had began to cry and felt deeply embarrassed. It had taken a really long time until she got over her shame and began to see him as a great friend.  
  
Suddenly voices could be heard - Arthur and Molly Weasley had arrived. Harry guessed that they had apparated to Hogsmeade, due to the fact that you couldn't apparate in Hogwarts.  
  
Molly pulled her youngest son in a loving embrace, while his father immediately asked: "What's happened? Dumbledore didn't tell us anything!"  
  
Ron and Harry exchanged worried glances - Arthur Weasley was not known for violent behaviour, but he could get very, very angry. And remembering the confrontation he had had with Lucius Malfoy in Diagon Alley a few years ago, they didn't want to be the ones to tell Arthur Weasley that this guy that had just kidnapped his only daughter.  
  
Fortunately they were interrupted by the headmaster who greeted them politely and let them into his office where they all sat down.  
  
Arthur Weasley waited only until Dumbledore was seated and then asked:"Please excuse my impatience, Headmaster, but you said it was an urgent matter."  
  
Dumbledore looked from the trembling Ron to Harry and then to Mr and Mrs Weasley: "Yes, I am sorry, but... Arthur, do you remember the pureblood-bonding law?"  
  
Mr Weasleys eyes narrowed questioningly: "Yes,... a law from the early 14th century."  
  
Dumbledore nodded: "Yes, ... it consist of rules regarding the requirements of bondings between aristocrathic pureblood families to ensure a pure bloodline."  
  
Arthur Weasley frowned: "Headmaster, what is this all about? I don't understand why you should call us here that urgently and then talk about medieval laws that are no longer in use?"  
  
His wife looked at her husband angrily, not really happy about the way he spoke to the Headmaster.  
  
Dumbledore saw it and smiled: "It's quite alright, Molly - I just don't know how to tell you..." He sighed "Arthur, the law may be out of use - but its still valid law and the rules are binding."  
  
Suddenly Arthur Weasley looked horrified: "It ... cannot... It, no... it is impossible."   
  
Molly looked questioningly at first her husband and than at the headmaster, who looked so old... He showed each of his 153 years. It was a terrible sight.  
  
"I think it is time to tell them , Ardegeon." Dumbledore said with a meaningful glance at Ron and Molly. Arthur Weasley flinched and went pale, he whispered: "You can't be honest, Albus.... This cannot be happening..."  
  
Molly narrowed her eyes: "Arthur, what's that all about?"  
  
After a murderous look at Dumbledore, Rons father began: "Molly, Ron - do you know what this law includes exactly?"  
  
They both shook their heads.  
  
"It is a law, that was made in times of witchhunting - and burning. It was made to protect the wizarding aristocrathy from connections to none-wizard who could have endangered them. The basic rule of it was: Keep to your own kind so that no one knows about us. And..." Mr. Weasley hesitated and continued after and encouraging nod from Dumbledore: "And my ancestors believed very much in the worth of the purity of blood."  
  
Harry had noticed something: "I'm sorry... Mr Weasley, but ... it was a rule for the aristocrathy?"  
  
Ron's father gulped and closed his eyes for a moment before answering: "Yes, Harry, that's right. But... my name has not been Arthur Weasley from birth on. My name...My birthname has been Lord Ardegeon of Grindelwald."  
  
Molly Weasley almost fainted, while Ron asked totally confused: "Dad?! Father... what's this all about??? You are *not* Arthur Weasley? And this name - 'Grindelwald' wasn't that the one Dumbledore defeated, the Dark Lord before You-Know-How?"  
  
Arthur/Ardegeon looked at his son with sad eyes: "I am so sorry. I didn't want to tell you... because it is not a nice story to hear. And... it would have overshadowed your whole life - our whole life. My name is - *was* - Ardegeon of Grindelwald - because I'm son of this Dark Lord."  
  
Silence.  
  
Molly Weasley trembled, almost ghostly pale, Ron stared at his father with a not-so-intelligent expression on his face and Harry was shocked - to say the least.  
  
From all he had learned about Grindelwald, he must have been an equally evil wizard as Lord Voldemort. And now - Arthur Weasley - the kindest man he new besides Dumbledore and maybe Hagrid - was son of such a devil?  
  
Because none of the Weasley family seemed to be able to say anything, Harry asked what came into his mind first: "Why?" Not a very intelligent question, but it was the only thing he could think of.  
  
Arthur/Ardegeon smiled weakly at his sons best friend: "Do you want to ask me why I am telling you all this right now - or why I didn't tell my own family before?  
  
Harry stated flatly: "Both - and more."  
  
"First of all, I'm Arthur Weasley now and I have left my past behind since my fathers death.. You have to understand that I spent my first 25 years as an heir to darkness. I wasn't even at school, my father himself taught me all he thought I should know. So I became a master of the dark arts and learned to loath and hate everything regarding - like my father called it - lower wizarding families and Mudbloods. Not even to speak of Muggles. Ant at first I became what my father wanted me to be - merciless, powerful, feared… I never doubted that nothing mattered more than the purity of blood and power. I became a killer in my fathers name."  
  
Harry heard Molly gasping, but Arthur/Ardegeon continued as if needing to tell it, as if he *had* to tell someone (As shocked as Harry was by the thought of Mr Weasley as a dark wizard, he realized that the man must have been carrying around a lot of guilt and that it must have been a terrible secret to hide such a past)  
  
"It went on for nearly 10 years. Then I met... My father had slaves and one day he brought home a Mugglegirl - Celina." Rons father gulped again. "I had learned to use everyones weaknesses for my own pleasure.And it was the same with this girl. I forced myself upon her like I had done with many before - a cruel and brutal rapist.   
  
She never complained, she never begged. She was beaten and abused, not only by me, but by my fathers - and my - followers as well - and she never complained. She never cried in front of us. That was the first special thing about her that I noticed - that this Muggle - a weak girl - who I had learned from my early childhood on to loath for being weak and worthless - that she never gave up a kind of pride, of dignity.   
  
I couldn't loath someone who was that strong. No matter how often I used the Cruciatus on her or how often I violated her - she always remained calm and tried not to show her fear, although she flinched away from my touches. After a while I stopped beating her. I had never had doubts before - but now I simply didn't see the point to hurt her. I never had real friends, and I began to see her as one. And she... she was a miracle, because after I had only talked to her for months, she had already forgiven everything.   
  
She argued, she tried to convince me of the wrongness of my prejudices. I had never found it necessary - or even adequate - to speak with a Muggle, an inferior creature, only created to serve the wizarding community. But she surprised me with her cleverness, and her instinctive understanding. She had never been in contact with the wizarding community before her enslavement - let alone an aristocrathic wizarding family - but she understood why I was the way I was..   
  
It was really a miracle, but she understood everything. And this way, she changed my view of life. She asked me when she didn't understand something, and often I had to answer "I don't know" It was then that I began to doubt the believes my father had taught me. I would lie if I told you that I stopped feeling superior, but she made me think about things I had learned and never doubted.  
  
Never had I had a real friend, only companions who feared and sometimes hated me - mostly lower rank aristorcraths who admired my father and wanted to be noticed by him as my *best friends*. Celina became my confident, my only real friend and even my lover. She even forgave me that I had been her torturer once.   
  
When I was with her, I could forget that I was the son of my father, that I was a dark wizard, an heir to darkness. When we were alone, we could almost forget that I was Master and she slave - I a pureblood that had the reputation of killing every Muggle who had the misfortune to cross my path and she a Muggle who should have hated me for all I had done and what I represented.   
  
It went on for one year.   
  
Then my father found out. I never learned how - but he did and I guess it was one of my *friends* who was happy to have a medium to gain my fathers attention. He punished me, called her a filthy Mugglewhore and that he was disgusted. And than he killed her in front of me."   
  
A pained expression stood on Mr Weasleys face and he seemed unable to speak any more.   
  
Molly Weasley looked at her husband with desbelieve and horror, she opened her mouth and closed it again, not bringing out a word. Ron coughed and stared at his father with blank eyes, he also remained silent - a sign how shocked he was - because that was not a very common behaviour for Ron. Dumbledore looked at Harry, not saying a word. It was again Harry, who said something: "Your... Your own father murdered the girl you loved?"  
  
Arthur/Ardegeon nodded and then added in a very low voice: " He killed her because he saw her as a threat. He saw that I treated her inadequately well - I mean, I didn't treat her like an equal, but I didn't hurt her anymore and I trusted and respected her. It was still a far way from my former behaviour to the way I am now - I still thought of her as a Muggle-slave, property without own rights - but I had began to understand that she was a human being - and that she was not the stupid - nearly-animal-like creatures my father had made me believe Muggles were.   
  
And after she was killed, I ... I sort of broke down. I think that I only then really understood what she'd been to me. Suddenly I saw - saw for the first time really - that my father had to be wrong about Muggles, pure blood and the superiority of wizards."   
  
Here he stopped and closed his eyes. Molly Weasley, although in shock, hugged him and comforted him while Ron and Harry stared at them helplessly.  
  
Dumbledore, who had only listened until know, began to speak: "I guess, I should continue, I am sure Arthur won't mind."  
  
Mr Weasley shook his head slightly and Dumbledore began: " I was still a transfiguration teacher at this time and one day I found a person in my office who I had never thought that he would come to me. The son of my worst enemy stood in front of me and begged me to help him, to change his life. I was suspicious, to say the least, and I only believed him after he agreed to prove his honesty under Veritaserum.   
  
Of course, "Dumbledore smiled gently at Mr Weasley, "He was honest, and he offered me his help. he would help me with any information he held, if I only would grant him the opportunity of a new beginning. He assured me that he would do all he could to help me destroying his father - if only I helped him to find a new life - without dark arts, without tortures, rape and hate." Dumbledore paused again "And shortly said, I agreed, and due to information his own son had given me, I was able to defeat Lord Artemis of Grindelwald."  
  
Here Arthur Weasley cut in again: "Afterwards I asked Albus to keep his part of the deal. I let him change my appearance, let him cast a complex memory charm which wiped away my knowledge of the dark arts and he arranged a new identity and found a job for me." He hesitated: "I wanted to be anything but what I was before - nothing what my father had wanted me to be. I had a very different appearance then, dark hair and pitch-black eyes - and in my new life I wanted to change everything, even that.   
  
But the most important thing for me was that I wanted not to be part of the aristocrathy any more. My father hated Muggles and so did I - before Celina. I decided that you should only hate people you know - not because you don't know them. So I began to learn about the Muggle world. I tried to leave behind everything my father had represented.   
  
One year I spent hidden at Hogwarts, trying to learn everyhing about Light Magic, something I hadn't been trained in too well. Albus made a suggestion for which I will be grateful for all eternity. He said that I should not only leave my dark past behind but also my time. So that I'd be able to begin again, without the risk of being identified by one of my fathers former followers. Of course, I don't think anyone would have recogneized Arthur Weasley, the Mugglelover for Ardegeon de Grindelwald, Prince of Darkness.   
  
But Albus saw a clear as he does always, that I would have to leave not only my former believes and surroundings, but also the time I lived in, if I wanted ever to gain a bit of peace. After I agreed, Albus sent me forth in time - 50 years. I began to work at the ministry and met Molly. I tried hard to forget all about my past. I never told her anything."   
  
He looked at his wife apolegetically: "I wanted to forget the shadows of my past. I wanted my wife to remain innocent and my children free of the darkness that overshadowed my soul since I could think. I wanted a futur - a Light future - for you, Molly, and our children." He again paused: "But now - someone must have found out that I am an aristocrath - by seeing our family name in the registry I think - if I understand Albus correctly." Dumbledore nodded with a sad expression: "Yes, I am afraid this is the case."  
  
Arthur breathed deeply, clearly hesitant to ask what he had to: "Albus..., what has happened exactly? Who... who is it? Who has claimed his rights on my daughter?"  
  
Molly let out a startled scream, but he ignored her completely and looked at Dumbledore, who answered admirably calm:" It is Lord Malfoy, Arthur. Malfoy has claimed your daughter as his wife."  
  
This was too much for Mrs Weasley. She sank down and Ron and Harry caught her just in time to prevent her from falling. Harry looked at the man he had known as 'Arthur Weasley' for years.   
  
The man had a look in his eyes that terrified him - the usual warmth had vanished, giving place for coldness, anger and sheer *power*.   
  
Harry shuddered.   
  
He recogneiced this expression. he had seen it in blood red eyes.   
  
And never would he have thought to see it one day in Arthur Weasleys eyes. 


End file.
